July 28, 2019
17th Sunday Ordinary
Approval of money for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund cleared the Senate on Tuesday. It already passed the House. President Trump will sign the Legislation. It provides health coverage for those who have grown deathly ill from the toxins at Ground Zero. Do you remember where you were when news broke on 9/11 of the attack on the World Trade Center? I do. And I remember soon after being part of a prayer service at Alfred University. I was asked to lead the recitation of the Our Father in this ecumenical setting. Next to me was a Jewish Professor. I told him that I was going to pray the Our Father. He said: “Fine. It is a good Jewish Prayer.â€
We forget that Jesus is Jewish. Growing up Jesus prays with Joseph and Mary at home and with Joseph at the synagogue. In the Gospel according to St. Luke Jesus is praying and his disciples are watching him. They ask him: “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.†Jesus replies: “When you pray say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.â€
The “Our Father†in the Gospel according to St. Luke is different from the one we pray at Mass that is taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Is Jesus giving his disciple exact words to pray or is Jesus giving his disciples a model or example of how to pray?
Jesus goes on to tell a parable of a supposed friend who keeps knocking at the door of a friend’s house in the middle of the night asking for three loaves of bread. The friend inside is not inclined to get up out of bed, but he does so because of his friend’s persistence. Jesus encourages us: “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.â€
Whatever we may ask for from God must be part of God’s plan. Jesus gives us a final example of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Father, if you are willing take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.†The purpose of prayer is not to change the mind of God but that we come to the realization that everything ultimately is in God’s hands. The efficacy of prayer is often found in the change that occurs in us. Jesus promise us the Father in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Can we ask for anything of greater value?
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16th Sunday Ordinary
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18th Sunday Ordinary C
